1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,920 This is Jimmy Internet and we are coming to you living up in a down world. 2 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:35,440 Right from the middle of the Texas Hill Country where we have enjoyed an amazing 3 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:41,440 spring day. Things are greening up. The blue bonnets are in full bloom. Texas is 4 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:45,760 looking beautiful right now but more beautiful than Texas is the girl sitting 5 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:52,880 right across the table from me or the studio desk. My little studio desk. 6 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,680 I'm excited to say that it is kind of small. You know when you order 7 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:01,360 things on Amazon we might as well dive right into this. It always looks bigger. 8 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:06,240 Yeah it looks like massive. Then we ordered it and it's like oh it's cute. 9 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:10,600 I actually like it though. Was it a video podcast we saw with 10 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:15,640 Greg Lowry and that? Yeah yeah I can't remember his name but yeah it was a 11 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:21,480 vodcast, a video podcast. They were sitting well they did a couple things. One 12 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:26,000 time they were sitting in these big cushy chairs. That's what I want. Big cushy chairs. 13 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,240 I mean they were like chilling back having a latte. I think we should consider that. 14 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:35,240 I'm wide open to that but I do like my little Amazon desk. It's an electric 15 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,200 desk. It goes up and down. But you never do it. You never use it. What's the point? 16 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,960 I adjusted a few inches here and there depending on my mood that day. I'm feeling 17 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:49,560 especially work in the workflow. I'll raise it up a little bit. Really? But 18 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:54,160 aren't you supposed to be able to stand? Yes I can. It'll go very tall. I never see you stand. 19 00:01:54,160 --> 00:02:00,840 Well you know I just work so hard. Lazy. And by the way Chevy's with us today. 20 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:05,920 Chevy you want to say hi? He did look at me. Oh my gosh. Chevy is our... 21 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:11,160 Tell me again. He is a... Have a Sean. Just have a Sean. Just let it go. He's like a 22 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:16,320 white poodle type and he is like... He's kind of got separation anxieties, 23 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:20,000 codependent. I mean he's got a lot of issues but we love him because he's our 24 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,200 buddy and he's right now totally chilling in Annette's lap. He gets so 25 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,840 excited when you start setting up. I know. He literally knows what's about to happen. 26 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:35,560 He gets all excited. He gets... He's ready to jump up in our lap. Yours. He's a 27 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,880 mama's boy during this thing. He's daddy's boy in the mornings. He comes into 28 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,120 my lap. But he's just like so excited because he knows he's about to get some 29 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,920 some petting and some loving and so he's totally chilling out. So hey well welcome 30 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:53,440 to our podcast today. We are on number 12. Wow. Time flies when you're having fun. 31 00:02:53,440 --> 00:03:01,640 Right. Right. Number 12 and hey we made top 10 on Fountain again. We've been able 32 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:07,640 to do that a few times thanks to some amazing people like Adam Curry and Sir 33 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:12,480 Brian with an I and Deb Scott and we've got some just cool people who've been 34 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,800 supporting us and encouraging us and and that has really helped and so to make 35 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:21,280 top 10s exciting for us. So we want to get started today. We want to pick up on 36 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:27,080 a couple of things. First of all let's do an update. How is the Purge coming? Wow. 37 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:38,840 Well we looked it up and it's been four weeks. Cheers by the way. Four weeks. Just FYI. I'm curious if I can move. To us. We're having aloe vera juice. We're having aloe vera juice. 38 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:50,600 Vintage 2023 from Walmart and it is it looks like wine and it's in a wine glass. It is in a wine glass. I remember my son-in-law came into town. That's what I did when I was a 39 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,640 Baptist. And I tried to get him to drink this because I said this is good for your 40 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:59,600 gut. Somebody told us it's good for your gut. If it's good for sores and cuts why 41 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:08,600 would it be good for your stomach? Exactly. So we drink it every day. We're addicted to it. It's it tastes like what hydrogen peroxide. No there's a smell 42 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:15,040 that goes with it. Like when you walk into a pool supply store and you smell all those chemicals. Which we did this morning. You smell all those 43 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:20,080 chemicals like chlorine and muratic acid and all that. There's a there's a smell 44 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:30,040 that goes along with that. And that's what this smells like. It tastes like that smells. It's but we are addicted to it. Well cheers baby. I'm telling you. Wow. Okay. 45 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:42,720 Let's get back to me. Oh Pershing. Yeah back to back to mama. Well we looked it up and it's been four weeks one month since I have turned off the TV. And we're 46 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:49,600 reading. We're talking. Now we're watching good stuff. I mean we did get on Pure Flix. 47 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:54,600 And there's some we saw an amazing movie last night. What was the name of that movie? 48 00:04:54,600 --> 00:05:04,800 Wings of Ingles. Eagles. Wings and it was about Eric Liddell. Liddell. They say Liddell. Yeah the guy who won the Olympics in the 30s. 49 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:15,120 Runner. They made the movie Chariots of Fire about him. Well this is another version that shows his life after the Olympics. Yes it was so. He became a 50 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:20,160 missionary to China and was a school teacher to Chinese and got caught up in 51 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:25,280 the war. And we're not going to give it away. It is a great movie on Wings of 52 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:31,480 Ingles. You can see it on Pure Flix. It's from 2017. Never heard of it. Phenomenal. And I just 53 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:37,200 happened to turn on Pure Flix and that came up. Who cried the most? We both did. We 54 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:43,200 were both crying. There were two eye cries. It was so good. So we're not we're not keeping 55 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:48,600 ourselves from TV but we're not watching. We're being selective. Right. We're not watching 56 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:54,760 those TV shows that I was so addicted to. Like it was it's like being addicted to a 57 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:59,960 soap opera which I was. Or Aloe Vera juice. I remember I was talking to Tina and Tina 58 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:06,760 said oh my gosh when you were talking about soap opera. Tina Curry. Oh Tina Curry. She 59 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:10,880 and I were both talking about how she was addicted to some of the same soap operas that 60 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:17,040 I was. But you know evening TV you can get addicted to those dramas and I felt like I 61 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:23,400 was more into their dramas than our own. And I don't know. I just feel I feel it very much 62 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:28,200 at peace what you've been watching things without me. No I was when I was in college 63 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:32,520 I was addicted to The Young and the Restless. I thought it was All My Children. Erica Kane. 64 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:36,240 It was that one too. There was actually a couple of them. I know. I'd go home at lunch 65 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:42,600 from college from school and make sure. And that was All My Children at lunch at noon. 66 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:50,000 I know. For me it was about four different soap operas and I would record them on my 67 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:55,720 VCR if anybody knows what VCRs are. Wait we had a beta before that. I don't think I ever 68 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,480 had the beta. You didn't have a beta? I don't remember that. They had those big discs. Those 69 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:05,320 big large ones. I probably did. So addiction to TV. You know what was interesting. I don't 70 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:09,080 know if this happens to anybody else but I would notice that in the evenings like if we 71 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:14,720 were cooking in the chicken. If we were in the kitchen. Boy I might mix up some words 72 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,240 on Sunday at church too. That's not even going to do that. Adam Curry thought that was really 73 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:25,240 funny. So anyway. When we were cooking. When we were cooking you would just go turn the 74 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,680 TV on. Just for noise. Because that's what my parents did. Guess what was on all the 75 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:36,120 time. Wheel of Fortune. Yeah that one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Never a fan. But you know what 76 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:44,440 I don't know. It's not a bad show. Well anyway. But it was just to have background just because 77 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:50,400 it was a habit. Yeah. And I would sometimes go mute it while you were doing stuff. At 78 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,880 least mute it. Because I wasn't even. It literally was just noise. And sometimes we would just 79 00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:00,880 turn on music. But still. Right. I would turn on music. That's me. No I like having it throughout 80 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:07,280 the house during the day. I'd always. One of the things I had changed many many years 81 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:12,400 ago was not watching anything during the day. Right. If we were home. I would wait till 82 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:19,880 the evening. So I kind of did this slowly. But it wasn't intentional. Right. To stop 83 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:26,440 altogether. So this is. To me I feel like I have overcome an addiction. Yeah. Because 84 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:31,160 when you check to see how long it had been. I thought oh two weeks. I know. I was shocked. 85 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:36,480 Four weeks. It's been four weeks and we haven't even noticed. No. That it's been gone. I 86 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:42,120 literally thought in my mind I'm going to have withdrawals. Because I'm such a TV addict 87 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:48,160 that I'm going to want to know what happened on our shows. And now I want even if I turn 88 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:53,920 it on so I could get to YouTube to watch a video or whatever. You know I just don't know 89 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:59,240 if Stabler and Olivia will ever get together. Oh my God. On SVU. And that's why I don't 90 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,920 want to watch it. Because they're not going to until the very end and then it'll be over. 91 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:07,280 It's not even real. Right. I think that's why. But I've watched it with you for years 92 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:11,760 because I was taking one for the team. Yeah. Because I love you. That was what we had. 93 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,760 Yeah. You know together at night. So then we're like what are we going to do with this 94 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,280 21 plus hours that we're gaining back. I did the math. Oh my gosh. And I'm not good at 95 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:25,920 math. I used to calculate. We had 21 hours. 21 hours minimum. That's just a bare minimum 96 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:30,920 that we gained back. And we've been listening to music. I love YouTube. So I'll put on this 97 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:37,400 great cafe. French cafe. And they play jazz music in the background. But it's a huge beautiful 98 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:42,160 screensaver that's got butterflies and the Eiffel Tower in the background. And they've 99 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:46,760 got croissants on the table. It's making me want to drink a lot of coffee. But I'm on 100 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:52,560 keto so croissants aren't. I know. Yeah. Don't say that word. Coffee, lattes, espressos. 101 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:58,320 I mean there are. Anyway. So I love that kind of stuff. And then we're reading scripture. 102 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:03,360 We're reading books. We're watching. We're watching sermons on YouTube. We are total 103 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:09,800 Bible nerds. We're preaching nerds. We love the Word of God. We love. We both of us have 104 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:14,120 said this. Remember our friend Kathy from years ago. Yes. Say what she said and then 105 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:20,560 what you told me. Well she just said that she has to have teaching on or music or something 106 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:27,400 because she will get horribly depressed. That her whole life depends on what she puts in 107 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:34,200 her mind every single day. Because she has had depression in the past and it changed 108 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:39,400 her life. And you know I thought wow wonder what that's like. But that's all I did was 109 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:46,800 think about it. But I never put it to practice until now. What a difference. The peace. Not 110 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,720 just that we've always had peace in our home because people have always come over and said 111 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:57,680 your house is very peaceful. That's true. But there's a peace in my heart now that is 112 00:10:57,680 --> 00:11:06,160 quite evident. A lot more so than it was before. I mean I've always had a you know a little 113 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:12,760 bit of peace. Just knowing Jesus you're going to have peace. But this is different. This 114 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:19,160 is just I'm not anxious or concerned about the things of the world. Now we did have a 115 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:25,520 tragic thing happen today that we saw on the news. The school shooting. School shooting 116 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:30,720 in Nashville. Nashville is our second home. We resorted to our second home. And so I saw 117 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:35,200 that while we were at the gym. Yeah and that's just a shout out. I mean a word of prayer. 118 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:41,200 I mean we need to pray. Yes. I know of six that three children three adults. And it was 119 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:46,480 a the last thing I saw was a 28 year old that could change with the news. I read that it 120 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:53,880 was a 28 year old former student. But this school was only up to sixth grade. Wow. Weird. 121 00:11:53,880 --> 00:12:00,960 Weird. But such a tragedy. And so our heart our prayers our tears go out to Nashville 122 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:06,760 because I know that Nashville is a big small town. So there's a real community spirit about 123 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:10,640 Nashville. It's what we loved about living there. And so we have a lot of dear friends 124 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:15,800 that are there. We have a lot of family that's there. Yes. And so not at that school obviously 125 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:20,460 but still it's a heartbreaker when it's your community. And so our heart our prayers go 126 00:12:20,460 --> 00:12:25,840 out to that. Yes it sure does. So I saw that while we were at the gym. We were at the gym 127 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:32,520 and they have the TVs up. So on Mondays just FYI we take we take our Sabbath. We take a 128 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:37,760 day. It's not taking a day off. It's taking a day intentionally and spending time with 129 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:44,520 the Lord. It's the purifying the cleansing. It's staying focused on him. It's recovering 130 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:50,340 and resting. That's a gift that God's given us. And so for years we have not taken it. 131 00:12:50,340 --> 00:12:56,640 And then just this last about a year. Yes. We've been doing that. And we're coming out 132 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:03,360 of Covid. We just we were like we have to. This is a command from God and it's a gift. 133 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:09,360 Well and then we had another death this morning of a really dear friend. We found out just 134 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:15,680 went into the hospital on Monday last Monday and today he's gone and he's in his 60s I 135 00:13:15,680 --> 00:13:22,680 think. It's shocking. But he's a young I mean he's young minded. He's young spirited. I 136 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:29,640 never saw him that old and just a great God a great lover of Jesus and his wife Rhonda. 137 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:35,560 This love goes out to Larry to Rhonda Fisk and their family. And we got a video from 138 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:41,280 a friend of ours that was up there and out there in California thousand area. And they 139 00:13:41,280 --> 00:13:45,880 sent us this video and it was all of their family standing around Larry's bed. Larry's 140 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:52,320 got this massive mask on and just he's laying there. I thought he was in there at first 141 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:57,240 like he wasn't even moving. And they start singing worship. They've got it like on somebody's 142 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:04,120 phone and the whole family singing and Larry's hand goes up in worship. It's like oh and 143 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:09,600 that was last night. I just started crying. And so our man again more prayers. I mean 144 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,600 this is heavy stuff. So here's the thing. These are things that are realities that are 145 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:20,800 happening. But that now add to that everything that comes in on all of our screens. Right. 146 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:27,200 Whether it's your phone a tablet or the TV. Our hearts were not designed by God to handle 147 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:32,920 this amount of stress and pain. And you know what did we do. I always hear people say what 148 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:37,320 did we do before. You know cell phones. I'm like well we had a lot more peace. We sure 149 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,840 did. We didn't have the stuff coming into our phones in real time. And then of course 150 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:47,640 these days it's like is it even true. I mean I don't even know what's real anymore. Unfortunately 151 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:52,620 it's hard to trust everything that's out there. But it's just our hearts can't bear the weight 152 00:14:52,620 --> 00:14:57,440 of that. So the purging thing for us just to help anybody who's listening if you're 153 00:14:57,440 --> 00:15:04,120 thinking about doing it just try it like a fast. I'm going to fast TV for a week or for 154 00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:10,400 21 days. You know it says 21 days breakers or make a habit if that's true. We did. We 155 00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,240 did. I mean we believe our passage. I didn't even realize. And I even thought. I even said 156 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:18,440 has it been two weeks. You said two weeks. I thought this was just it could be just a 157 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:24,440 season. But I actually don't want it to be just a season because I. Exactly. Peace is 158 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:31,280 so strong that I don't I don't need it. So what we've gained has been already so worth 159 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:37,600 it. And so yeah we're looking at ending our contract with Dish. Yeah. Oh my gosh I'm so 160 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:44,280 excited. I know it's like when do I get here. I think it is June or July. We're done. So 161 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:50,300 moving right along. So we gain peace we gain time and we're just not spun up over everything 162 00:15:50,300 --> 00:15:56,880 now because it's not inundating us. And it's really crazy to get spun up over a TV show. 163 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:03,040 Oh I know. It's not even real. Or the ID channel the ID network. Oh gosh. That just had you 164 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:08,800 at some point it had you so scared. You were living paranoid. I was like we have to shut 165 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:13,640 every. Make sure every door is locked. Every window is shut. I think I can see through 166 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,920 that crack in the blind. No wonder I didn't have peace. I know that was really spinning 167 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:23,560 you up and it spins us all up. Anyway great forward momentum on that. Just want to give 168 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:29,220 an update on that. Travel update. A little trip coming up. It's a real short. You get 169 00:16:29,220 --> 00:16:34,280 to go meet with Robert Morris. Pastor Robert Morris from Gateway. So this is a cool thing. 170 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:39,560 Our church we've always had our hearts and that I've always been very aligned with Gateway 171 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:44,760 Church in South Lake Texas and we've been there often on over the years many many times 172 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:49,200 we've had friends that are on staff there and known people on staff there and so we've 173 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:54,880 had a lot of interaction there. So when we became the Bridge Church we were no longer 174 00:16:54,880 --> 00:17:00,960 affiliated with Oak Hills other than just relationships. Great relationships. We felt 175 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:05,040 like we needed to connect with something larger than us. A network. We didn't want to be out 176 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:10,520 here by ourselves as a church doing its own thing. We wanted to have not only accountability 177 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:17,480 that's always part of it but camaraderie friendship relationship. But we wanted to find who we 178 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:23,100 could align with. We looked at several and once we really looked at the Gateway Church 179 00:17:23,100 --> 00:17:30,720 network it was a no-brainer for us. It's about 168 churches, 165 churches and what I didn't 180 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:35,760 realize is you have to apply then they interview you. I didn't read the fine print. No apparently 181 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:40,560 not. So I get double teamed. Two of the pastors called me from Gateway Church and they're 182 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:44,720 interviewing me and I didn't know they were interviewing me. We're just having a great 183 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:49,000 chat. Turns out we know a lot of the same people. We've had a lot of the same history 184 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:55,000 and ministry so we're just having a great time practically high-fiving over the phone. 185 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,200 And then later I find out it was actually an interview and then I got an approval letter 186 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:05,920 that you've been in accepted. And they only accept about 20% is what I was told. 20% of 187 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:10,840 the churches that apply. That's right. That was pretty remarkable. So we hit the ground 188 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,960 running. We started attending some conferences out there. Some pastor conferences where they 189 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:20,280 do equip type things. Where they train us, equip us, help us, teach us. It's just a lot 190 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:25,600 of things that we really need constant input. You can imagine people who are pastors are 191 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:30,400 constantly giving out, giving out, giving out. And if you're not refilling your buckets, 192 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:34,080 not just with the presence of God and the Holy Spirit, all that's critical, but also 193 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:39,000 with information, content, growth. I mean I want to be ever living, ever growing. And 194 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:43,440 so Annette and I and our staff, we have taken advantage of so many things they've offered. 195 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:50,360 So one of my favorite preachers on the planet for years has been Pastor Robert Morris. We 196 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:56,400 listen to him every single week. Every week. Multiple times. We go back in the archives. 197 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:01,760 And the reason is because there's just an alignment there, a spiritual alignment where 198 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,680 I'm just in locked sync with where he's at in his life, in his heart, in his season of 199 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:11,720 life, and his own journey as well. We have the same background, denominations speaking. 200 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:17,200 And she both got saved at 19 years of age, 18, 19. So there's a lot of history there. 201 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:20,240 We were both kind of wild kids. Not kind of. We were both wild kids. You were both very 202 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:25,240 wild kids. Okay. We were crazy. So, and yet God rocked our world and then called us into 203 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:29,120 ministry. So we've tracked a lot of the same tracks along the way. So let's have a high 204 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:37,240 respect. So we have pastors we relate to and connect to. And I got asked to attend a roundtable 205 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:43,640 meeting with about 20 pastors out of the network that are going to get to sit down with Pastor 206 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,800 Robert for a full day. I'm really looking forward to that. Even though I'm not going 207 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:52,520 to be there in the meeting, I'm going with you, but I'm not going to be in the meeting. 208 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,760 But I'm really looking forward to what kind of wisdom he's going to impart to you and 209 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:03,160 what are you going to come out with? And I believe there's, I believe in spiritual impartation. 210 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,360 It's not just content. It's actually there's something deeper. There's something in the 211 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:12,680 spirit, a kinship in the spirit. So I'm really going with an expectation and an open heart. 212 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,480 I'm looking forward to meeting other pastors. Every time we go to these events, we get to 213 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:22,360 meet more people. But also it's just an honor to get to sit and be and have that input into 214 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:27,440 my life. So I'm just super excited about that. So that's this week. So we take off tomorrow. 215 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,720 We'll make that trip. It'll be kind of a quick turnaround, but it's going to be really a 216 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:35,880 really neat time. And then we're going to have dinner with my regional pastor. He represents 217 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:41,640 he's my connect guy and his wife on Wednesday night there in South Lake. So we're looking 218 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:45,400 forward to that. It's going to be a sweet time. Moving right along. I had a moment last 219 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:52,320 week. I had a weird moment. I had a moment just confession time right here, transparent. 220 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:56,920 Wait, should you have told me first before you tell everybody? Don't panic. It's not 221 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:02,040 about you. It's me. So anyway, I've heard that before. No, what it was, I actually had 222 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:07,220 a doubting moment about the podcast about should we be doing this? I mean, you know, 223 00:21:07,220 --> 00:21:11,340 we're putting a lot of energy into it time and it's part of our now it's a regular part 224 00:21:11,340 --> 00:21:15,840 of our routine and had doubts. It's like I got, why do you think you had doubt? I think 225 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:20,580 the devil is ticked off is what I think. And it just, it was just, I was getting attacked 226 00:21:20,580 --> 00:21:26,280 in my mind over it. I know it's crazy. I was, and it was such a weird thing because I had 227 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:31,900 just read a bunch of beautiful comments people wrote and had gotten some encouragement and, 228 00:21:31,900 --> 00:21:36,600 and people on fountain are continuing to support us financially through given Satoshi's and 229 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:43,240 Bitcoin. And so I was like, this is going great. Why am I feeling all this? And then 230 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:49,080 I began to realize there's a very real enemy who wants to anything that we're doing for 231 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:54,920 the kingdom of God and that which will help and benefit other people in the name of Christ 232 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:59,160 is going to come under attack. Because he said he's here to kill, steal and destroy. 233 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:04,160 Is he ever, is he ever, but thank God that Jesus turned, flipped the script on that and 234 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:09,840 said, but I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. That's John 10 235 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:14,240 10. We've got that one committed to memory because we've had to, but it really describes 236 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:18,200 this life. So yeah, I had a moment where I thought, you know what, I just, I don't know 237 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,480 if it's worth it. Get over that moment. Well, first of all, realizing we had just talked 238 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,800 about and did an episode last week called mind wars. We're going to kind of continue 239 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:33,060 that that track today, but, but having that, those thoughts, uh, I realized I was getting 240 00:22:33,060 --> 00:22:38,320 bombarded by the very things we were talking about those negative thoughts, what Zig Ziegler 241 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:43,000 used to call stink and thinking, stink and thinking that comes in your head that tells 242 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:48,040 you you're not good enough. You're not worthy. Nobody really cares. This isn't going to go 243 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:53,120 anywhere. I mean, I could go on and on because my mind never stops. Those tapes play constantly, 244 00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:58,320 constantly. Oh, they do. There. It's just, the devil doesn't fight fair. He's a street 245 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,940 fighter. And so a couple of things happen. First of all, I began to realize what was 246 00:23:02,940 --> 00:23:06,680 going on. I don't even think I articulated to you right away. I was just kind of wrestling 247 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:11,200 with it, doing what a dude tip guys just go into their shells, right? They go into their 248 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:16,040 main cave and tries to fight it out. So I was wrestling there a little bit. And then, 249 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:20,880 I began to just think through, wait a minute, this is not right. This is not coming from 250 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:27,600 God. This is, this is not even coming from my own past. This is not a trauma informed 251 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,820 response because I didn't have a whole lot of trauma in my background. So that's not, 252 00:23:31,820 --> 00:23:36,520 this isn't that. And then I began to realize it was the voice of the enemy, the accuser 253 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:40,880 of the brethren. And then where we're sitting in what I guess we were getting ready for 254 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:49,080 a staff meeting on Tuesday. And this wonderful woman who was going into the sewing, I think 255 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:55,840 the sewing ministry area that we have, and she saw us and she started to walk by and 256 00:23:55,840 --> 00:24:00,240 then she picked her head back in there and said, I just have to tell you how much your 257 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:05,480 podcast means to me. You think that had something to do with it? Just hearing that from someone 258 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:06,480 you'd never met. 259 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:11,800 Yeah, yeah. And she'll probably be hearing this. So ma'am, please tell us your name next 260 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:17,800 time. I'm so sorry we didn't get your name. But I cannot tell you the power of an encouraging 261 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:25,760 word. The scripture talks about that there are words that are sweet. They're like honey. 262 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:31,660 And they actually, it even says that, you know, a word kindly spoken is like apples 263 00:24:31,660 --> 00:24:35,280 of gold and settings of silver. Isn't that a beautiful scripture? 264 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:42,440 Yes. Well, and your number one language of love is words of affirmation. 265 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,920 Go figure. Words of that's why I live up in a down world, you know. 266 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:51,360 But you know, to me that would be very hard to be a pastor and need words of affirmation 267 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:55,320 because you're going to get that, but you're also going to get people with that critical 268 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,440 spirit come against you for saying things that they don't believe. 269 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,840 I could write books on things they said to me. 270 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:08,200 So you can have 10 words of affirmation and one person come up to you and say something 271 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,560 where they're judging you and you just. It'll take you out. Takes you out. It'll 272 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:17,880 decimate your heart. My recovery period is much faster than it was 20 years ago. 273 00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:23,560 Because you're getting older and wiser. And I begin to see people in 3D and realize, 274 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:27,800 okay, there's something behind what was said. Talk about 3D because I love that. 275 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:31,800 All right. So my friend Bill Loveless, who's a great minister, his own right. 276 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,760 He's one of our equipped teachers at the bridge, the church we pastor. 277 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,360 He shared this with me. I don't know if he came up with it originally. 278 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:41,560 You know, I don't know. I don't think any of us have an original thought at the end 279 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:49,120 of the day. Solomon wrote in the Book of Solomon, the Song of Solomon, the 280 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:52,040 Wisdom Book, he said, there's nothing new under the sun. 281 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:56,680 And that is the truth. So anyway, I'm aware I heard it or where he heard it. 282 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:02,920 We talk about seeing people in 3D. In other words, if I just judge you on what I 283 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,840 know about your saying to me, but I don't know anything about you. 284 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:08,320 Or just the way you look. 285 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:13,440 Yeah, the way you look, car you drive, whatever. How you carry yourself. 286 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:19,160 Do you have social acumen? I mean, all the things that we notice about people. 287 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:25,640 Seeing them in 3D means you take the time to see the full 360, the full...all the way 288 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:32,480 around them, which means taking the time to listen, ask questions, get to know them. 289 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:35,800 We had an incident happen here in our community. I won't go into details to 290 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,920 protect both the innocent and the guilty, but it's a city-wide thing, an issue that's 291 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:45,440 going on. It's turned into kind of a war between certain folks. 292 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:48,720 And I've had the privilege of being able to speak to... 293 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:50,320 I like the way you said privilege. 294 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:56,800 The privilege, the opportunity to speak to people on both sides of that issue in 295 00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:01,680 our community. And as the president of our local ministerial association, 296 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:04,840 we had a meeting last week and sure enough, that was the elephant in the room. 297 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:07,480 And I just outed the elephant. I do that a lot. 298 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,240 I said, let's just talk about the elephant in the room. 299 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,960 And I brought the issue up, you know, and the barometric pressure in the room, 300 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:14,160 sucked the air out of the room. 301 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,880 And so I'm sitting with a group of pastors and leaders in our community, 302 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:24,120 all who I love and adore. However, they are all on different places of the 303 00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:30,560 theological spectrum, which means an issue like this in our community can really 304 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,240 pull things to the surface and cause division. 305 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:34,240 Cause division. 306 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:38,640 So I had to address that. And when I did, my biggest challenge to that group was to 307 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:44,280 see others in 3D. And I said, if you've got a problem with somebody across the 308 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:48,200 room or someone on the other side of the aisle, politically speaking, 309 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,720 then you need to take them out for lunch or coffee. 310 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,400 And get to know where they're coming from. 311 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:54,680 Cause you never know. 312 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:56,400 Everybody has a story. 313 00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,440 And what trauma has informed. 314 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,520 There is a story behind everything that we say and do. 315 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:06,520 And if you don't take time to get to know their story, then you will judge them. 316 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:07,160 Exactly. 317 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,920 And you will marginalize them and you will objectify them. 318 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,800 And what you do when you marginalize and objectify somebody is they might as well 319 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,720 be a piece of trash on the ground that with your little electric blower, 320 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:22,160 you're blowing them off the sidewalk because it's just a piece of trash. 321 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,280 Well, that's what's happening in our culture. 322 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:30,280 As you look out today, people, if people don't agree, then you just, 323 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,360 instead of agreeing to disagree. 324 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:34,720 It used to be that. 325 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:35,240 Right. 326 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:36,400 That's how we would live. 327 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:37,160 You conversate. 328 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:38,760 You lived with people like that. 329 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,440 You'd meet with people and have conversations and talk things through. 330 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:42,080 Not today. 331 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:43,000 Doesn't seem that way. 332 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,040 If you disagree with me, you must hate me. 333 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:45,320 Yeah. 334 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,360 So I'm going to go on social media and blast you out of the universe. 335 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:48,920 Oh my goodness. 336 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:51,200 This world has just. 337 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,440 And so what happens is you get people in a room over a hot topic 338 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,800 and it can get hot in that room real quick. 339 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:58,960 I was like, when you turn air conditioner down this room? 340 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:03,000 I mean, it was, we're meeting at our church and there's about 15, 20 of us. 341 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:07,400 But I appreciated it because once I laid a foundation, 342 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:12,760 everybody as a kind of, it was a devotional, it was disguised as devotional, 343 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,800 but I was literally like saying, we need to talk. 344 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:19,240 And so what was really beautiful is to watch how that unfolded. 345 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,640 Because it did get a little tense and terse a couple of times. 346 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,760 But for the most part, everyone cooperated. 347 00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:27,840 Do you hear that word? 348 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:28,240 Yes. 349 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:30,120 They co-operated. 350 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:31,360 Co-operate. 351 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:32,680 They operated together. 352 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:33,520 They cooperated. 353 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:34,280 That's the way it should be. 354 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:35,040 And at the end. 355 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:36,800 Especially pastors. 356 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:40,240 Oh, we cannot afford to allow the enemy to divide us. 357 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:41,320 Especially pastors from different denominations. 358 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:41,880 Oh, yeah. 359 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,400 Because of course you have different views on God, on the world. 360 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,720 It's the tapestry of the body of Christ, right? 361 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,640 So what was neat is at the end, I saw people exchanging phone numbers. 362 00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:58,360 I had three of my friends all from various places on the spectrum, 363 00:29:58,360 --> 00:29:59,840 all went to lunch together. 364 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:00,480 That's beautiful. 365 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,480 And then I got a beautiful report back from a dear friend of mine who knows 366 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:09,320 and who'll be listening to this, who said, man, I got to see people in 3D today. 367 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:09,800 That's beautiful. 368 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:10,840 I've heard their stories. 369 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:12,200 That's beautiful, Jimmy. 370 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,440 Man, that just made me weak. 371 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,800 Because you were really dreading this meeting. 372 00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:18,600 Because you didn't know what was going to be the outcome. 373 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:19,600 Well, I'm a heart guy. 374 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:21,960 I lead from the heart, which is good and bad. 375 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,000 The good is I lead from the heart. 376 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,800 And I'll weep with you and cry with you and hurt with you. 377 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:32,520 But the hard part is it hurts me deeply when things are out of whack. 378 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,000 Well, and you know the enemy's wanting to cause such division. 379 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:39,520 If he can cause division with all of these pastors, oh my gosh. 380 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:40,120 No kidding. 381 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:43,880 And you know he can cause havoc in the city of Fredericksburg. 382 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:44,520 No kidding. 383 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,480 I mean, you take out the shepherds, it scatters the sheep, right? 384 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:48,440 Yes, it sure does. 385 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:49,360 So praise God. 386 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:51,200 I mean, we saw God working that. 387 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:54,800 And what we do every week, we pray for the churches. 388 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:55,320 We do. 389 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:55,840 Every week. 390 00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:56,520 We pray for other. 391 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:57,960 A different church every week. 392 00:30:57,960 --> 00:30:58,600 Every single week. 393 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:00,000 And then we pray for all of them together. 394 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:01,800 So of course this would happen. 395 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:02,040 Yeah. 396 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:02,640 Of course. 397 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,760 Well, in a way, it was a great test. 398 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:05,240 Yes. 399 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,600 And so looking back on it and really processing it, 400 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,880 I would say that was the best thing that could have happened, 401 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:12,960 even though it was hard. 402 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:15,400 And I don't know that we're changing each other's minds 403 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,560 on where we stand on certain issues. 404 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,200 But at least we understand why we're standing on those issues. 405 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:22,080 And that's what I saw. 406 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,240 And I don't think it's up to us to change people's minds. 407 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:24,720 No. 408 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:24,960 No. 409 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:26,040 I trust the Holy Spirit. 410 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,040 Exactly. 411 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:30,040 Whether I'm the one who needs to be corrected. 412 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,320 And usually, here's what I learned a long time ago. 413 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:33,820 And I tell people this all the time. 414 00:31:33,820 --> 00:31:36,880 So listeners, this is a good one to perk up on. 415 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:39,600 There's always three opinions on a topic. 416 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:40,560 There's never two. 417 00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:42,720 Always at least three. 418 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,680 Your opinion, my opinion, and God's opinion. 419 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:47,400 And there's only one out of those three 420 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:48,760 that matters at the end of the day. 421 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:49,440 Exactly. 422 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:53,880 And so we're always complicit when there's conflict. 423 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,800 And there's always more to learn. 424 00:31:56,800 --> 00:32:01,080 But one way to do that is by seeing people in 3D. 425 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,080 I hope that helps somebody today. 426 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:04,120 One thing I want to share. 427 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,880 We talked about mind wars last week. 428 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,000 And we really got into this whole thing. 429 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,280 Kind of an idea of the battlefield of the mind. 430 00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:12,480 So you got online. 431 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:14,440 And what did you order that came in today? 432 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:16,720 The Battlefield of the Mind Bible. 433 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:17,720 There's a Bible around there. 434 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:18,360 Joyce Meyer. 435 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:19,320 Well, I have the book. 436 00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:20,440 And the book is amazing. 437 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:21,720 But I was looking online. 438 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:25,320 And she has an actual Bible that has her notes 439 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:26,640 from her teaching. 440 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,200 I'm so going to steal that from you. 441 00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:28,840 It is so good. 442 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:29,520 I just started. 443 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:30,600 I thumbed through it already. 444 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,080 It's a huge book, Bible. 445 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:36,720 Because it's the Amplified Bible, which amplifies. 446 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:38,800 So it's a bigger Bible than your normal Bible. 447 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:39,120 Yes. 448 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:39,920 Because it's amplified. 449 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:40,880 But it's really good. 450 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:44,880 Because it has a lot of PowerPoints in there. 451 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:48,080 She calls them PowerPoints, where she's making 452 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,200 a point that's very powerful. 453 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,360 She has some prayers in there that you 454 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,600 can pray when you're reading certain scriptures. 455 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,200 That minister to you. 456 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:03,720 And you want to have that as part of your life. 457 00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:07,120 And she gives you a prayer to be able to pray. 458 00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:08,920 Because not everybody knows how to pray. 459 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,440 A prayer that's based on scripture. 460 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:13,480 It's like praying the Word of God, which is so powerful. 461 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:13,960 Yes. 462 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:14,920 So it's really good. 463 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:16,040 I just got it today. 464 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,600 And I'm really anxious to get in it. 465 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,120 But she's one of those Bible teachers 466 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,080 that have ministered to me since, gosh, I 467 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,920 was in my probably early 30s. 468 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:30,360 Maybe in 20s even. 469 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:30,860 Yeah. 470 00:33:30,860 --> 00:33:32,680 Years ago, we started listening to Joyce. 471 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:34,600 And we've watched her trajectory. 472 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:36,360 She's about to be 80 years old. 473 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:36,860 No. 474 00:33:36,860 --> 00:33:38,280 And as strong as ever. 475 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:40,520 I mean, you talk about a fountain of wisdom. 476 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,040 Not everybody likes her. 477 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,880 I mean, she is definitely has. 478 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:48,560 She's got her critics. 479 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:50,280 She's got her critics. 480 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:54,920 But she was sexually abused by her father. 481 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:55,760 Oh, yeah. 482 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:57,680 For years as a child. 483 00:33:57,680 --> 00:33:58,180 Horrible. 484 00:33:58,180 --> 00:34:02,440 And so trauma informed actions. 485 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:03,880 It impacted her life for years. 486 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,880 But it also caused her to turn to the Lord. 487 00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:08,840 And he healed that. 488 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,280 And she's got a great story. 489 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,680 So the book we're recommending is not just that Bible. 490 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,920 We're recommending her book, Battlefield of the Mind. 491 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:21,180 If you struggle with crazy thoughts and accusatory thoughts 492 00:34:21,180 --> 00:34:24,400 or tapes that just run from your past, 493 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:27,200 and you feel like you can't get free from that, which I just 494 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:32,120 said 99.9% of humans on the planet, get that book. 495 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:34,360 Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. 496 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,040 You will not regret it. 497 00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:39,720 And it will help you fight and battle those crazy thoughts 498 00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:41,840 like just what happened to me last week. 499 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:43,920 So scripture that I lean upon heavily 500 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,400 when these kinds of things come, when 501 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:49,760 we're talking about the mind game or mind wars, 502 00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,360 is Romans chapter 12, verse 2. 503 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,920 And I really like the New Living translation. 504 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:57,600 It says this, don't copy the behavior and customs 505 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,120 of this world, but let God transform you 506 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:06,060 into a new person by changing the way you think. 507 00:35:06,060 --> 00:35:08,000 That is so powerful. 508 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,560 The way you transform, that means 509 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:14,600 to change your form, trans, to change form. 510 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,400 The way you transform, change your form, 511 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:22,560 is by changing the way you think and what you think about. 512 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:26,960 And so what are ways that we're changing our form right now? 513 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,600 Well, just by taking the television out. 514 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:31,280 Some of it's taking things away. 515 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,200 Taking things away and adding things in. 516 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:37,360 Adding things in that are going to bring us joy and life. 517 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:38,040 Nailed it. 518 00:35:38,040 --> 00:35:38,560 Yes. 519 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:38,920 Yeah. 520 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:40,920 So that's what I had to do when I was struggling 521 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,400 with those thoughts, those negative thoughts, 522 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:44,160 stinking thinking. 523 00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:46,760 I had to get back and go, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. 524 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:47,800 Where's this coming from? 525 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:49,440 I recognize a source. 526 00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,680 Sometimes you've got to reveal it in order to heal it. 527 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:54,160 And so I recognize a source. 528 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:57,560 I revealed the source and said, I know where this is coming from. 529 00:35:57,560 --> 00:35:59,720 And I'm going to break my agreement with that. 530 00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:03,040 I'm not going to make a covenant with these awful thoughts. 531 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,680 And so I was able to walk out of that unscathed. 532 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:07,440 And you know what? 533 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:08,800 Hey, podcast goes on. 534 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,000 This is number 12, and we're not quitting. 535 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:12,520 So we're going after it. 536 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,920 So I wrote down, I jotted down some things. 537 00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:18,040 We don't have a lot of time, so I'm not going to go too deep yet. 538 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:19,600 But we'll keep this going. 539 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:23,600 And I thought about this title, Games People Play. 540 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,480 I mean, games people play. 541 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:31,120 It's the things we do in this life is what I'm referencing. 542 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,560 The games that we play in life. 543 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,920 Because life is, I mean, I grew up an athlete, played football 544 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,920 my whole life, baseball my whole life, basketball, tennis, 545 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:42,480 and then picked up golf. 546 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,760 I mean, it's just like I've played sports, lifted weights. 547 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:46,960 You and I met in a gym. 548 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,600 And we were in the gym today all 30 years of a while later. 549 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:55,720 So for me, sports really speaks to me. 550 00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:58,760 So when I speak in terms of the game of life, 551 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,840 I mean, I immediately go to a football game, or a tennis match, 552 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,800 or a golf game, or a basketball. 553 00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,760 So the games people play are the things 554 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:14,440 we do to be in the game, to play the game of life. 555 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,240 And so what are the games? 556 00:37:16,240 --> 00:37:17,160 What are the rules? 557 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:21,440 What are the things that we do in order to play these games? 558 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:25,320 And so I wrote down a bunch of just random thoughts. 559 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,240 And one of is the mind game. 560 00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:33,040 And the reason I did that is because we 561 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:34,160 talked about mind wars. 562 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:36,200 And that got me thinking about the mind games, 563 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:38,320 and then with me having my moment last week 564 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,080 about wanting to just walk away from the podcast, 565 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,400 go, OK, well, it was a good try. 566 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:44,440 It was fun. 567 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,120 But man, I realized where that was coming from. 568 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:48,760 And now I'm out of it. 569 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:50,960 So I wrote down several things. 570 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:52,760 I want to talk about another one. 571 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:54,080 And we'll do this. 572 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:56,520 I call it the name game. 573 00:37:56,520 --> 00:37:57,280 The name game. 574 00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:58,200 What does that mean? 575 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,680 So the name game means this. 576 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,200 If you don't agree with me, then I'm 577 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,160 going to name you something else. 578 00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:09,880 And if you don't agree with me, you must hate me. 579 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:11,280 And so I'm just going to name you. 580 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:12,560 I'm going to label you. 581 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:17,840 I'm going to label you a conservative. 582 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:19,920 I'm going to label you a fundamentalist. 583 00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:23,320 I'm going to label you a liberal. 584 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:25,000 I'm going to label you a progressive. 585 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:28,240 I mean, we can go down the list on the name games 586 00:38:28,240 --> 00:38:30,600 and how we label people. 587 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:32,600 And we put names on them so that we can create. 588 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:33,680 Very degrading. 589 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,000 It's degrading. 590 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:36,600 It's limiting. 591 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,560 If I name you something, then I only 592 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:41,480 see you through that lens of that name, which 593 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:42,880 means I put you in a box. 594 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:44,280 And I put a piece of tape on it. 595 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,120 And I wrote that name on you. 596 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:48,680 And that is what I meant when I talked earlier 597 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:52,560 about when we objectify another human being. 598 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:55,320 When we objectify them, now we can do anything 599 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,600 we want with them because they don't matter to us anymore. 600 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:02,760 And you talk about demonic, evil, dark. 601 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:05,920 You want to say that something is satanic in nature. 602 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:09,120 It's this objectifying another human being. 603 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,280 That's what happens in the porn issue 604 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:16,000 is that when people watch porn, they objectify those people. 605 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,760 And in their minds, they say, well, it must be OK 606 00:39:18,760 --> 00:39:21,800 because it's just a picture or it's just whatever. 607 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:24,560 So when we objectify, we do that in arguments. 608 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:26,000 We do it in conflict. 609 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,640 We do it in marriages sometimes. 610 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:32,720 All kinds of relationships and connections, 611 00:39:32,720 --> 00:39:35,000 when we step into objectification, 612 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,680 the next thing we do is we marginalize that individual. 613 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,360 Think of a book with all the words and blank margins. 614 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:44,920 We take them out of the content of the page 615 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,120 and move them to the side of the page. 616 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:48,600 They're no longer in our view. 617 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:50,400 We stick them over here in the margin. 618 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,440 That's marginalizing a person. 619 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:54,640 So we objectify them, which means they're 620 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:56,440 no longer human to us. 621 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:58,200 And then we marginalize them, which 622 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:00,840 means we put them out of our thoughts. 623 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,080 In the culture, it's been called cancel culture. 624 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,120 And you can define that in several ways. 625 00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:09,360 But I've always thought that's just a trick word that's 626 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:10,600 going to go away eventually. 627 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:12,120 What we're actually doing is we're 628 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,280 putting them in the margin, which means I don't do anything 629 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:15,920 in the margins. 630 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:19,200 It's a blank white on a white page. 631 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:20,160 It's just blank. 632 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:21,920 And so we're going to stick them over there 633 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:23,400 so I don't have to deal with them. 634 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:25,640 And that is one of the darkest things. 635 00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,440 It's a name game that we play. 636 00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:29,360 And we do it by putting labels on people. 637 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:31,120 Have you ever noticed that or seen that? 638 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:33,720 The reality in the world is put more labels. 639 00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:38,760 I've heard more labels now in this last five years 640 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:40,560 than I've ever heard in my lifetime. 641 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:41,280 For real. 642 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:45,680 I mean, the media, I mean, everybody's just label, label, 643 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,040 label, category, category. 644 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:48,360 In the brainwashing assault. 645 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:50,480 So what happens is instead of seeing someone 646 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:53,680 in 3D, which means I go, oh, wow, they're 647 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:55,880 more than that theological thought. 648 00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:58,520 They're more than that political position. 649 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,080 This is kind of what I said with the guys the other day 650 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:02,360 and the girls. 651 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:05,960 I said, we've got to look past what we just 652 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:08,880 know about somebody and get to know their story 653 00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:11,480 and get to know what makes them who they are, 654 00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:13,640 the why behind the what. 655 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:15,880 And so in terms of this, I found a- 656 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,040 That's why you've been thinking about this so much. 657 00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:19,040 Oh, no doubt. 658 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:23,040 Yeah, I mean, because life presses things to the surface 659 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:24,120 that you have to deal with. 660 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,080 And now you've got to reconcile that. 661 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:29,120 So yeah, that's what I've been reconciling in my mind. 662 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:32,400 So I want to just close out with this today. 663 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:35,960 On the name game, James, no, I'm sorry, Book of John, 664 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:39,080 chapter 13, verses 34, 35. 665 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:39,680 Listen to this. 666 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:42,880 A new command, a new commandment I give to you. 667 00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:45,400 This is Jesus speaking. 668 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:50,160 That you love one another as I have loved you. 669 00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:52,760 That you also love one another. 670 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:57,120 And by this, all will know that you are my disciples. 671 00:41:57,120 --> 00:41:59,040 That's John, chapter 13, verses 34 and 35. 672 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:00,960 What I think is interesting about that verse, 673 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,040 and you and I were talking about it earlier, 674 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:07,400 is most everybody knows the Ten Commandments 675 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,520 or knows there are Ten Commandments. 676 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:11,360 Not everybody remembers all of them. 677 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:16,040 They'll just remember, do not murder, do not commit adultery. 678 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:16,640 Do not steal. 679 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:17,280 Right. 680 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:21,680 But this is a new commandment I give to you. 681 00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:22,360 New. 682 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:23,440 Fresh. 683 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:24,320 Wow. 684 00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:25,880 He's not canceling the old. 685 00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:26,400 No. 686 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:30,320 But what he's saying is, if you want to summarize all of it 687 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,320 into one, it's this. 688 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:34,600 That you love one another. 689 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,200 Notice he's saying it in John, chapter 13. 690 00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:40,320 Know what they were doing in John, chapter 13? 691 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:43,560 What do I say every Sunday when I do communion? 692 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:45,000 Well, I don't know. 693 00:42:45,000 --> 00:42:46,320 They were at the supper table. 694 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:47,760 Right, but this particular Sunday, 695 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:50,080 you kind of messed communion up and said. 696 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:51,280 Oh, let's not go into that. 697 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:51,560 I know. 698 00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:52,240 I'm sorry. 699 00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:52,800 I had to do that. 700 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:53,880 Totally buffooned my words. 701 00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:55,560 Yeah, I got things slipped anyway. 702 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:57,760 So it happened around the last supper. 703 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,920 They were around the dinner table when Jesus said, 704 00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:04,480 let me just boil it all down to the basics here. 705 00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:05,760 Love one another. 706 00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:08,320 That's how the world's going to know who you are, 707 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:11,560 is by the love you have for one another. 708 00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:13,440 Not the love you have for me. 709 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:15,400 Not the love you have for me, Jesus. 710 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:17,640 You have for people who are just like you. 711 00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:18,720 Ooh. 712 00:43:18,720 --> 00:43:19,720 Now you're meddling, girl. 713 00:43:19,720 --> 00:43:22,360 Well, that's the problem. 714 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:25,040 We have got to be set apart from others. 715 00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:27,440 As Christians, we need to be set apart. 716 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,400 How do I love past a disagreement? 717 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,600 How do I love through a wall? 718 00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:34,080 And agree to disagree. 719 00:43:34,080 --> 00:43:36,960 What is wrong with agreeing? 720 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:40,920 In my past, I could have an argument or a discussion 721 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:42,960 with a friend or a family member, 722 00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:44,520 and I could say, you know what? 723 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:48,760 I disagree, but let's agree to disagree and just go on our ways. 724 00:43:48,760 --> 00:43:51,800 Disagreement to me is an invitation to learn. 725 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:52,640 Right, that's true. 726 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:53,480 Think about it. 727 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:54,320 That's what it is. 728 00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:56,520 If I disagree, that means we don't see things the same way. 729 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,840 So now help me see from your vantage point. 730 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:03,240 Help me see what you see, and I'll help you see what I see. 731 00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:05,560 And then we may even come into agreement. 732 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:07,080 Maybe, maybe not. 733 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:09,000 But if we don't, that's okay. 734 00:44:09,000 --> 00:44:10,080 I'm still going to love you, 735 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:11,240 and there's nothing you can do about it. 736 00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:12,760 Exactly. 737 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:15,400 So the name game, that's what I want to end with today, 738 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:18,160 because I feel like it's important in this world right now 739 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:20,520 that we stop labeling. 740 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:22,040 Put away your labeling gun. 741 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:24,400 Remember those labeling guns, the tape in them? 742 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,320 Put it away and start getting to know the people 743 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:30,880 that you're struggling with, the opposition, the resistance. 744 00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:35,280 But there's also boundaries that have to be set with people 745 00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:38,720 that are not always the best for you, 746 00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:41,480 because they'll bring you down. 747 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:43,680 No doubt, no doubt. 748 00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:46,320 So we covered a lot of territory today, 749 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:48,640 and we're going to keep this thought going all through the week. 750 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:50,920 So we hope this will give you something to think about 751 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:52,840 and pray about and lean into. 752 00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:54,640 And we just always want to give a shout out 753 00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:58,840 to Adam and Tina Curry, who helped us get this podcast going. 754 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:02,000 So we love you guys, and thank you for your help with us. 755 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,680 We hope that you guys will have a fantastic week 756 00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:06,520 living up in a down world. 757 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:07,360 God bless. 758 00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:20,940 app.